Letter from Stefano Fosco, one of the comrades of Culmine arrested on 13th June (Italy)

A bandit in a cage

Thanks to the warm support of the comrades of the Cassa Antirepressione delle Alpi Occidentali [Anti-repression Solidarity Fund of Western Alps], I communicate what follows:

On 13th June I was arrested in Pisa along with my comrade Elisa in the context of ‘Operation Ardire’ of the prosecutor from Perugia. The carabinieri ROS [Paramilitary police - Special Operations Unit] broke down our door and took me to the police barracks, where I was identified, subjected to DNA sample and heavily provoked. Later I was detained in the Don Bosco prison in Pisa. On 16th June I was questioned by the judge for preliminary investigation but – of course – I used the right not to answer. The next legal step will be the court of review.

For reasons I’m going to explain I was made unable to access any information channel and therefore I’ve got quite a narrow picture of what happened. For example, I don’t know about the people under investigation apart from the ten of us who were arrested, nor do I know where the 40 searches were carried out.

The order of remand issued against me is of more than 200 pages and contains quite heavy charges: I’m accused of being the mastermind and perpetrator of an endless list of direct actions and of coordinating and making propaganda on solidarity campaigns with anarchist prisoners all over the world. However, as concerns the charges pressed against me I will come back to them after carefully examining the trial papers.

I can anticipate that the scheme set up by the investigators looks exactly like the many accusatorial theorems of the 1970s and 1980s. The most important difference is that this time the anarchist blog ‘Culmine’ is the focus of the investigation. On this point, that is to say on the alleged freedom to counter-inform using the internet, a reflection within the international anarchist movement is imperative.

As I’m accused according to articles 270bis and 280 I was assigned the A.S. 2 regime, which means that I have to serve my preventive arrest in high surveillance regime. But the prison in Pisa, where I’m being held, doesn’t have A.S. sections, so here I can’t communicate with other prisoners and go to the yard alone in a sort of not declared isolation.

It is very likely that I’ll be moved to a prison where there are A.S. sections.

The many comrades who have known me for a long time know that to communicate with anarchists is very much important to me. If you haven’t heard from me in these days, not even a hello, is because I was made unable to do so.

In practice, since the day of my arrest to 22nd June, the day when I was notified censorship of my mail, I haven’t received anything, absolutely anything form the comrades, in spite of the fact that many solidarity telegrams, cards and letters were sent to me. In the meantime I had written 13 letters, as I had memorized some addresses, but I have no idea if these letters ever arrived at destination. In ten days of detention, therefore, I have been subjected to total censorship of my mail, concerning both the letters received and those sent out. I don’t know up to what point this treatment is legal and as I’m anarchist I’m not interested in contesting it. I just want to make people aware of this negative precedent against an anarchist: detained and made ‘desaparecido’ by the Italian State for ten days with no chance to receive solidarity telegrams. No victimisation, of course, this is just an acknowledgement of what is being prepared against us anarchists.

On the same day of our arrest, the home office intervened, following the same script seen with the Chilean comrades involved in the ‘Caso Bombas’, the Greek comrades of theConspiracy of the Cells of Fire and the comrades arrested in Bolivia. We also need to reflect on this, on the international anti-anarchist repression.

Besides censorship on the mail, I’m not allowed to see or write to my comrade and partner Elisa, who is locked up in the female prison in Pisa.

Up to this day, for unknown reasons, I was made unable to get in touch with my co-defendants, of whom I didn’t even have the addresses. I let you know that soon after the judicial review I’ll prepare a technical defence in order to dismantle, point by point, all the lies that have been spread in these days. The anarchist comrades who have known me for a long time know I’m not that unprepared, as the investigators want people to believe. This is the fifth time I’m accused according to article 270bis. On other occasions I was acquitted or charges were dropped before the trial for similar conspiracy charges pressed by prosecutors in Genoa, Lecce, Turin and Florence.

As I’m individualist I’ve always been fascinated by the anarchist practice of anti-legalism, not by chance I was once charged with contempt of court. But I think that this practice has some limits, especially when you have to face a theorem of accusation full of lies, manipulations and blatant translation mistakes.

In order to prepare my technical defence – please note I’m not going to accept to be questioned by the justice – I need the help of the anarchist movement, not only the Italian one. In other words, I need to reconstruct the history of anarchism of action of the last decades through documents, communiqués, articles and history books. From time to time I’ll let you know which kind of material I need. Of course I hope that some ‘fussy’ comrades have saved all the database of Culmine, with particular attention to the chronology of the published posts. The more copies have been saved the better. (Be aware: when you surf Culmine avoid making comments aloud, you could be arrested immediately!).

We anarchists all know that sooner or later we may end up behind bars, but what strikes in this case is the ferocious attack on two dear comrades and friends: Marco and Gabriel, who were about to reach a turning point in their very long detention for a series of reasons. In particular it hurts what is being said against Marco and I think it is urgent that the anarchist movement consider how to support him in an effective way.

I don’t know if all letters will be delivered to me.

I’m going to answer all letters and cards that I receive. Due to censorship, I suggest you should send material written in Italian separated from that written in other languages (Spanish and English).

A big hug to the comrades who expressed their solidarity to us, like the spontaneous marches in Trento, Perugia and the poster made by the comrades from Pisa.

This entry was posted
on Monday, July 2nd, 2012 at 10:50 pm and is filed under Prison Struggle.

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